British Politics Thread.

[Denzark]

Sod the grand strategy message.

Is Russia actually going to invade? Hell no. Absolutely not - so moot point is moot, and entirely so.

They really are desperate to pin all evil on him, aren't they? Apparently, not having any desire to use Nuclear weapons is a bad thing? Personally, I'd rather not have a psychopath in charge of weapons we don't bloody need in the first place.

But of course. THE ARMY HAS SPOKEN AND MUST BE LISTENED TO. WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE SABRE RATTLING WE COULD DO!

That is very short sighted. Surely if war is bad, then deterring war is good? Saying you would meet your treaty requirements is part of deterrence. Even if in his heart of hearts he knows he doesn't mean it, it would be better to bluff.

What has the Army got to do with it - Admiral West is a.) Retired and b.) and Admiral as well as c.) a Labour raised lord.

'Sabre-rattling' is the preserve of the FCO - not the military.

There may be a place for conscientious objectors - but that is not at the head of our government.

If only it did.

Why does Putin kick off when the yanks say they will put a new missile system in Poland? Because he worries about NATO. NATO has done mre to keep the post WWII peace in Europe than any other factor.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Why does Putin kick off when the yanks say they will put a new missile system in Poland? Because he worries about NATO. NATO has done mre to keep the post WWII peace in Europe than any other factor.

Mm-hm, not saying that NATO is unnecessary, but it didn't stop Russia from taking Crimea. Didn't do much of anything to stop that. It also kinda sets us up as a Triple Entente if the other side does push things too far. No-one in NATO would really engage in open war because it'd be the last war. We'd all be toasting at a million sieverts before they even have the tanks loaded onto the transports to smack ol' Putin in the face.

[Denzark]

I don't think so. Last I checked, Crimea was a part of the Ukraine, and Ukraine isn't part of NATO. There was no Article 5 need to defend it. I presume when you say open war you mean conventional war vs Russia - Kosovo was pretty open. I don't think conventional war would automatically go nuclear in a Russia vs. NATO scenario. Russia/Putin has far too much to lose. Russia is allowed to stomp around its old USSR empire (Georgia, South Ossetia etc) but I reckon any Poland push would not go unchecked.

I hope I'm not alone here in thinking, as armchair generals and amateur strategists, that telling your potential opponents what you would or would do in given strategic scenarios, is stupid?

[CoffeeGrunt]

Then maybe Mr Corbyn's playing a high-level Sun Tzu by saying he wouldn't support our allies...reputedly, when actually he would! Dun, dun, duuuuun~!

Europe is scorched, America, Germany, France, all the others have failed, but Britain! We'll charge forth with that one aircraft carrier we're sharing with the French, some submarines and a bunch of Challenger tanks that don't take the smoothbore NATO ammunition! Yes, we'll definitely be the straw that breaks the Russian Bear's back!

Tbh, in WWII our role was more about intelligence gathering and we left the bulk of the fighting to the Americans, (well, the Russians, but it's politically-uncomfortable to admit that.) I'm pretty sure America would be more than eager to throw down against Russia, and with all that thrown on the table, our measly assets don't really matter.

[Denzark]

Tbh, in WWII our role was more about intelligence gathering and we left the bulk of the fighting to the Americans, (well, the Russians, but it's politically-uncomfortable to admit that.)

This is also quite topical. This week, a father is suing the £28k per year private school he sent his lad to because the lad only came out with 1 GCSE.

I mention it in case you went to private school - you may wish to sue to regain a proportion of fees commensurate with however much history you studied.

[CoffeeGrunt]

I went to a public school due to the joys of not having money, so I don't understand your point unless you're setting it up for a classist, "well of course you went to public school, tch!" History at GCSE level doesn't teach much of WWII, by the way, as it's forced to cover a lot of, well...history. Additionally, it's only taught at GCSE level at all if you choose the subject.

Perhaps you should focus less on insulting people's intelligence to make yourself feel good, and more on educating them?

Plus [URL="http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/d-day/d-day-and-the-battle-of-normandy-your-questions-answered"]according to D-day museum figures[/URL], 10,000 more Americans than British fought at D-Day, though I admit I thought the disparity was higher. The US death toll was far higher than ours', though.

[Mr Mystery]

My History GCSE? Course ran from 1994-1996, with exams in 1996.

I got a D, despite having done no work and my appendix rupturing half way through the first of two papers, and missing the second paper entirely as a result.

The topics? Basically post-war Britain....dullsville, and barely history when it's something you can just ask your parents about.

[Psychosplodge]

public school is private school CG.

I got a D in history cause I ****ed up my exam times and missed one. Got an A on that paper though which averaged out at a D overall. It would have been nice to have another A.

We did some WW2 pre GCSE, but GCSE was more Hitler's rise to power

[CoffeeGrunt]

public school is private school CG.

But you don't pay for public school? I thought private = paid, public = free?

I got a D in history cause I ****ed up my exam times and missed one. Got an A on that paper though which averaged out at a D overall. It would have been nice to have another A.

We did some WW2 pre GCSE, but GCSE was more Hitler's rise to power

Yeah, we got vague footnotes, such as, "America jumped in at the end, Russia sorta did stuff and Stalingrad was bad, oh, and France surrendered."

[Psychosplodge]

Nah, State schools are free, public schools are called public cause anyone with the money to pay can go to them iirc.